Thursday, 22 November 2012

Christmas is only ..... days away!!

Hello Friends

I am sure the Elves up in the North Pole are working flat out in readiness for The Man in the red coat to deliver lots of presents next month and much the same can be said for crafters across the globe. I saw quite a few desks on the WOYWW hop last night with Christmas projects on them.

I thought I would share a little something I have made this week and has been in the planning stage for quite some time. Hope you like it.....

Shall I let you into a secret? This Wreath is actually old and recycled! Yep! The wreath is willow and I originally decorated it some 4 maybe 5 years ago when I first had my Silhouette machine and discovered Perfect Pearls!! I cut out lots of leaves out on the Silhouette and then inked them up and sprayed them with Perfect Pearls. I also made some wire spirals and paper beads, which I had learnt how to make the first time I went to Cornwall.

And here you can see the wire spirals and paper beads (also recycled). The flowers are primarily made from metal, some with chipboard bases for firmness. Some of them are made with metal sheets left over from a project I did in Cornwall nearly 2 years ago and some of them with metal card which I had from Paperartsy when I renewed my subscription to a certain magazine (CS) some time ago.

My new TH Poinsettia dye has been used here with an extra layer at the bottom of chipboard which was covered with paper, inked and stamped. I wanted to ensure that the poinsettia did not try to wrap itself around the willow wreath.

All the metal was inked with TH alcohol inks, stamped with various stamps, embossed with embossing folders, sanded and then layered using hot glue. Once I was happy with the flower shape I arranged around the wreath, wrapped the wreath in ribbons, added spirals and beads which were wired in place and then set about attaching the flowers, leaves, pinecones and rosettes using my glue gun.

Here is a SU punched flower which was actually left over from my recent Halloween Mail Box project which I added some "snow" using my Ranger paint dabber.

Some of the paper beads I used as centres to the flowers and the various snowflake buttons and elements were brought back from the US by my friend last year. The rosettes were in my box from making them last Christmas for my Christmas Album cover.

Unfortunately these photos were taken in the house so the sheer shimmering effect cannot be appreciated in these photos. I have sprayed the whole Wreath with Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist which has given it even more shimmeriness!

Thanks for sticking with me to the end! I hope you like my Wreath and maybe you will feel like making one yourself. It really is quite simple though a little fiddly. Also, be careful when using hot glue to affix the metal layers....the metal gets hot too when you push the top layer down with a finger. Use a pencil instead!

31 comments:

I think that somewhere in that wreath you must have used a pair of fiskars scissors or slicer or..... Yes, I am sure you did! Cuz they have a great contest on right now...anything Christmas related...and the prize is 50 pound sterling value.http://www.fiskarettes.co.uk/index.php/made-by-fiskarettes/fiskarettescompetitions/christmas-competition-4/11761

Hi SamJust catching up after a hectic few weeks and spotted your wreath and had to come for a closer peek. It's stunning. I love all the different elements you've used. It's funny, I was rummaging around in the decorations box in the loft last night to find the one I made last year as I have been asked to make another one, there must be something in the air!!Hope all is good with you.Hugs Lisax

This is absolutely a precious piece of heARTistry! The moment I seen it, literally took my breathe away. It is treasures like this that truly make me enjoy the holidays & no words can express the gratitude for sharing such a long process to get to such an incredible heartfelt heART! HUGSxx

Wow Hettie what an absolutely amazing project ! There is so much to look at ! The colours are gorgeous and the texture and depth is just awesome ! Can you tell I love it !!! Thanks for joining us at Frilly and Funkie. Sue C x